Arts 16 Entertainment
Passion For `Purple'
Royal Oak author reveals the untold story
of Detroits most infamous mobsters.
Sunday, August 13 • 12 noon-4:30 p.m.
Jewish Community Center
on the grounds of the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Building
on the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus
6600 W. Maple, West Bloomfield
Food will be available for purchase at the event.
ADMISSION IS FREE!
FEATURING:
• New Orleans Klezmer Allstars
• Puppeteer Maureen Schiffman in
"Coco Goes to Israel”
• Artists and crafters with
demonstrations and items for purchase
• Children's activities
There will be rides, crafts and more!
• Jewish foods from around the world
• Costume contest
Dress up like a biblical character
and enter to win a prize.
For information, contact the Jewish Life and Learning
Dept., (248) 661-7649.
Funded in part by the Oldie and Harold Soble Foundation
Participating Organizations: Temple Shir Shalom, Jewish Parents Institute,
Jewish Community Council, Jewish Home & Aging Services Fleischman
Residence/Blumberg Plaza, The Detroit Jewish News, Jewish Heartland
Magazine, Marvin & Betty Danto Family Health Care Center, Jewish Women
International, Anti-Defamation League, B'nai David Sisterhood, Young Israel
Council of Metropolitan Detroit, Hillel of Metro Detroit, P'NAI
(Parents of North American Israelis), Friends of the Israel Defense Forces,
Jewish Accademy of Metropolitan Detroit
„.,
*Shuk- (shuuk) Hebrew. n. 1. Marketplace
2. Place to schmooze with people you've never met before.
3. Really cool area with food and fun tchotchkes to buy.
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nals who killed and robbed, but, on the
other hand, I think they admired these
Special to the Jewish News
young Jews who made it on their own
and didn't take any guff from anyone."
ewish author Paul R. Kavieff
Kavieff grew up in the Dexter-
always has been very interest-
Collingwood
area, about a mile from
ed in organized crime, crimi-
Collingwood and Twelfth St., site of
nals, crooks, outlaws, serial
1931's Collingwood Manor Massacre
killers and social deviates in general.
— Detroit's mini-ver-
Who better,
sion of Chicago's St.
then, to write a
Valentine's
Day
book about a
Massacre
of
1929.
bunch of men
(Three
were
killed in
who fit almost all
Detroit
vs.
seven
in
of those descrip-
Chicago.)
Kavieff's
tions — and just
mother and father,
happened to have
Blanche and Melvin
been Jewish, too:
Kavieff, moved to Oak
the infamous
Park, where Paul grad-
Purple Gang.
uated from Oak Park
Kavieff, 52, of
High School.
010-'194S
Royal Oak, devot-
He attended
ed more than 10
Oakland
University,
years of his life to
where
he
earned a
the research and
degree in political sci-
writing of his first
ence, spent three years
book, The Purple
in the Navy
Gang; Organized
and then
Crime in Detroit,
became a
1910-1945
stationary
(Barricade Books;
Author Paul R. Kavieff has
engineer.
devoted more than 10 years
$22). He will
For the past
to
the
research
and
writing
of
appear at book-
22 years, he
his
book
on
the
Purple
Gang.
signing sessions at
has been a
four area book-
heating and
stores between August 3-12.
air
conditioning
engineer
at Wayne
Why pen a book on the Purple
State
University,
where
he
also is
Gang, especially in view of recent crit-
working
on
a
master's
degree
in U.S.
icism of dragging up their unsavory
social
history.
past by such religious leaders as
Not only is Kavieff a history
Temple Israel's Rabbi M. Robert
maven, he's an admitted crime junkie
Syme. Of a Jewish history photo
who found little value in interviewing
exhibit several years ago that included
some authorities and individuals who
the Purple Gang, Rabbi Syme said,
knew Purple Gang members. Why?
"We shouldn't dignify that sad mark
He had more knowledge about the
on our past."
subject than they did.
But, replies Kavieff, "the book real-
In fact, while parts of The Purple
ly doesn't dignify the Purple Gang or
are a bit too procedural,. with
Gang
that era. It just shows both sides of life
many dates and times of hearings and
during a tumultuous time in Detroit's
trials and the precise chronological
history. The book is not about Jews.
order of events, all of it is a history
It's about criminals and a part of our
buff's delight. In his research, Kavieff
history that needs exploring and
used the Detroit Public Library's
explaining. I certainly have no vendet-
Burton Historical Collection, the refer-
ta against the Jewish community.
ence libraries of current and defunct
"Jewish people have had sort of a
Detroit newspapers, the State Archives
love/hate relationship with the Purple
and the Central Records and Criminal
Gang," he adds. "Of course, they did-
Complaints divisions of the State Police.
n't like them because they were crimi-
BILL CARROLL
jr